Corrugated roll-up structure



Sept. 15, 1970 E. l. ROBINSKY CORRUGATED ROLL-UP STRUQTURE Filed Aug.27, 1968 Int after Eli I Rb nsky it ornex/ United States Patent Oifice3,528,543 Patented Sept. 15, 1970 U.S. Cl. 206-59 1 Claim ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE A structural member or beam which can be rolled up fortransportation or storage. It is a sheet of resilient material preformedwith longitudinal corrugations to provide longitudinal rigidity. Thesheet may be preformed to coil into a tubular form when unwound andflatten out when wound-up. Or alternatively, without the preforming tocoil into the tubular form when unwound, several of said corrugatedsheets may be secured together with the corrugations staggered laterallywith respective troughs and crest fastened together forming longitudinalvoids. Such a structure can be wound up into a roll and when unwoundprovides a rigid deck.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In my prior U.S. Pats. No. 3,252,173 datedMay 24, 1966 and 3,258,800 dated July 5, 1966, I have disclosed roll-upstructures in which a resilient sheet is preformed to automatically coilinto a tubular form when unwound from a coiled up position and toautomatically flatten out when rewound. Some of the advantages and usesof such a structure are set forth in the said patents.

OUTLINE OF THE INVENTION The present invention increases thelongitudinal rigidity of the structural member or beam such as describedin the above patents by providing a roll-up sheet made of resilientmaterial such as steel, aluminum, plastic and the like, the sheet beingpreformed with longitudinal resilient corrugations that flatten out whenthe sheet is rolled up and will reform when the sheet is unwound.

The sheet may be used in a normally flat plane when unwound and if asingle sheet does not provide the rigidity for the purpose intended,several sheets can be stacked, one above the other, as herein describedin my said prior patents, the single corrugated sheet can be preformedto coil about its longitudinal axis into the tubular shape.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Features and advantages of the presentinvention will now be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, two embodimentsin accordance with the present invention and wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a first embodiment of a corrugated, single-layered,roll-up structure, partially rolled on a drum; and

FIG. 2 illustrates a second embodiment of a corrugated roll-upstructure, partially rolled on a drum and employing a number ofcorrugated layers.

The extensible structure illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises a strip ofthin, resilient material preformed to coil about its longitudinal axisto form into a tube when unwound from drum 11. The strip 10 is made fromresilient material such as spring steel, aluminum or resilient plastic.When rewound the sheet material returns to the flat condition. The drum,of course, is not essential since the material can be wound into thecoil without it. The sheet 10 is also preformed with a plurality oflongitudinally extending parallel corrugations 12. When the sheet iswound into a roll, the corrugations flatten out since they areresilient. When unwound from the drum the corrugations will reform andat the same time the sheet will assume a tubular form with lateral edges13, 14 overlapping.

It may be of advantage to provide reinforcing strips 15, 16 along edges13, 14 respectively, the strips being applied so that they will notinterfere with the overlapping of the edges in the tubular form.

The structure of FIG. 2 is basically the same as the one shown in FIG. 1except that the sheet is not prefoimed to assume a tubular form. Toobtain greater rigidity a plurality of sheets are stacked, one above theother, with their corrugations all running in the same direction.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 shows three sheets 17, 18, 19 eachmade of resilient material and each preformed with a plurality oflongitudinally extending resilient corrugations similar to thosedescribed with reference to FIG. 1. For the purpose of illustrationonly, each sheet is shown with two parallel corrugations. The corrugatedsheets are stacked with the corrugations of one sheet being reversedwith respect to an adjacent sheet, as shown, so that their respectivetroughs and crests are in contact thus permitting adjoining sheets to bejoined together by rivets 20 at their respective crests and troughs withvoids between the contacting crests and troughs respectively along whichthe sheets are joined. This arrangement does not interfere with theflattening of the corrugations when the sheet is rolled-up.

The foregoing structure can be used for decks, for bridges or otherstructures where it is convenient to have it brought to a site as acompact unit and unrolled into a rigid member.

It is obvious that the present invention is not limited to the detailsdescribed and illustrated herein but is susceptible of numerous changesand modifications as known to any person skilled in the art.

What I claim is:

1. A corrugated roll-up structure comprising at least three thin sheetsof resilient material in stacked relationship, each sheet having aplurality of longitudinal resilient corrugations which flatten when thestructure is rolled-up and reform into corrugations when unrolled,contiguous sheets being a mirror image of each other with respectivecrests in contact, and connected together References Cited UNITED STATESPATENTS 7/1966 Robinsky l4-27 3/1969 Rubin 52108 WILLIAM T. DIXSON,111., Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 52-108

